Zombies Invade Norwich And Mystic Through June For Local Film

"Did you hear? They're going to make the movie up there, on the roof," a man says to his friend, pointing to The Wauregan, a six-story apartment building in Norwich that was the set for the 11th day of shooting of the zombie movie "Remains."

Synthetic Cinema International, a Rocky Hill-based horror-film company, is filming through June in Norwich and Mystic. By now, locals are used to seeing zombies flooding the streets or crew members unloading trucks full of equipment.

The film — slated to make a limited theater release before airing on NBCUniversal's Chiller Network in early 2012 — has a cast list that includes actors from some of television's biggest shows, including "Heroes," "Lost," "True Blood" and "Fringe." Evalena Marie of Granby also stars.

Zach O'Brien is the co-producer, John Doolan is the script writer and Colin Theys directs.

"Remains" is based on Steve Niles' graphic novel of the same name.

"I'm a huge fan of Steve Niles," says Gernhard. "We approached him about this one because zombies are big now."

Set in Reno, Nev., the movie follows a group of individuals — played by Evalena Marie, Grant Bowler ("Ugly Betty," "True Blood"), Tawny Cypress ("Heroes"), Miko Hughes ("Pet Sematary") and Lance Reddick ("Fringe," "Lost") — who have survived a catastrophic radiation event that kills most people and turns most survivors into zombies.

Though there will be some changes to Niles' initial plot — some new zombies, characters and locations — most of it will stay true to the original novel.

"Everything that's in the comic is in there, expanded and used," Gernhard says. "Our make-up artist created a lot of the zombie molds based on the artwork used in the comic, which I know Kieron Dwyer, the [comic book] artist, was blown away about."

To prepare, the film crew watched many zombie films dating from the '50s to present day. They considered how, exactly, they wanted their zombies to behave.

"Our zombies are not anything superhuman. Whatever you are is what you are as a zombie," Gernhard says. "You don't have the intelligence that you had but they're not dumb; they're more like predators."

Although most mainstream zombies yearn for one thing — brains — the film's zombies will eat everything, including people, food, plants, animals and inanimate objects.

"They have this unbelievable hunger," he says.

With Gernhard's company based in Connecticut, he wanted to keep the movie (shot on 35mm) local. They considered filming in New Britain and Willimantic, but Norwich's Franklin Square — with its flat roofs and intricate architecture — was selected.

Shots of Reno will be edited into the backdrop of Norwich.

"We've gotten the film back from New York and I've been watching the dailies of it. It looks amazing," he says. "I can't even believe this is shot in Connecticut. It looks like a major theatrical release."

They've worked on giving back to the communities in which they're filming by doing business with local restaurants.

"They've opened their doors to us. We've had a lot of help from the community."

Gernhard hopes his decision to film in Connecticut will encourage others to follow suit.

"I'm trying to open the eyes of people and say, 'Look what Connecticut has to offer,'" Gernhard says. "It'd be cool if we got something back and going."

"Remains" will finish filming at the end of the month.

"We've done a lot of movies and been impressed with certain things," says Gernhard. "But this is a whole new level for us."